This afternoon, I participated in the latest meeting of the Balgay Stakeholders' Group that brings Friends of Balgay, local councillors and City Council Environment Department officers together to discuss issues at Balgay Park, Victoria Park and the surrounding area. We had an extremely productive meeting, discussing amongst other issues - improvements to the Rose Window, including new planting and a commemorative plaque, very good progress on dealing with potholes on the roadway up to the Mills Observatory and plans to improve the Rose Garden. After this, I attended an exhibition by Whiteburn Projects on development proposals for the former Parkview ...

My thumb is sore. Why is my thumb sore, you ask? Well, I just spent most of a working day cutting out pictures of animals that had been printed on sticky-back paper to make customized stickers. But wait, you may additionally ask, don't you have two graduate degrees? What are you doing cutting things out for money? Well, I'm an educator, aren't I? And the most important part of teaching is preparation. And sometimes that involves cutting out all the things in advance. Because you could hand a 3 year old a pencil and ask them to draw a bear, ...

Back to York - and thanks to York Stories, who tells us where most of these photographs were taken - for this slide show of the city's streets in the 1960s and 1970s. It was obviously put together by a VW fan. The music is Oo-Wah by Buddy Milton and the Twilighters.

Yesterday there was only one question on the television programme The Big Questions (should that be Question), should Parliament force the Church of England to appoint women bishops? However the question was hardly discussed as most of the time we heard something about the recent vote at Synod that rejected women bishops and we heard a lot of insults. I counted 36 examples of rudeness, insults, derogatory jokes and generally unchristian attitudes and emotions but there could easily have been more and the programme only lasted 43 minutes. Christina Rees, a lay member of the General Synod was extremely upset ...

I wasn't expected at haematology clinic this morning because the change of date I had requested wasn't recorded, but a consultant saw me anyway. The platelets had gone up from 520 to 560 since the previous blood test, so the hydroxycarbamide is increased from 5 to 7 days a week. Haemoglobin was unchanged at 10.2; it tends to be reduced by hydroxycarbamide, so the overall result is satisfactory. WBC and neutophils weren't mentioned, but I'll ask GO for charts. I did say I would like to speak to other patients with myelofibrosid and the mutation W515L if there are any ...

Julian Huppert MP MP Julian Huppert, who has been campaigning for lower energy bills for Cambridge residents, has welcomed moves to make energy companies legally obliged to give their customers the best deals. His efforts to get fairer energy tariffs for his constituents have been praised as the "type of consumer support measures so welcome by ordinary people" which "create goodwill". Julian has supported schemes such as The Big Switch which encourages and helps customers to find better energy deals and encourages energy providers to offer more competitive tariffs. He said moves to bring forward legislation in the forthcoming Energy ...

Sounds like a Harrison Ford Movie. Actually it's about the NHS in Consett and the rest of the North Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area. It's their plan for our health. There's been a lot of criticism about changes to the NHS, some of which I certainly share in, but the one possible saving grace is the localised Clinical Commissioning Groups in which local doctors' practices will take over the business of setting priorities and choosing much of the who, why, what, where and when of healthcare provision locally. That's not all bad – they're the people who know our ...

Last week made A Scottish Liberal proud to be a Liberal Democrat. With Obamacare apparently secured, The American Prospect considers what liberals in the USA should strive for next. "I was really pleased when residents in my block of flats voted recently against becoming a gated community - or at least against locking the gates we already, unfortunately, have installed. I don't want to live in something that feels like a prison, when you have to rattle keys to get to your front door, with the gate clanging shut behind you as you walk towards it. And I think that ...

Reblogged from HIV Blogger: As we approach World AIDS Day 2012 there are many ways that you can make a difference to the global campaign against HIV transmission. For anyone who uses social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, leading condom manufacturer, Durex has promised to donate one condom for one share. Watch the video ...

Can't be good for Nigel Farage as he is attacked Rotherham Social Services for removing three foster children from members of his party in one by election constituency when in another, Croydon North, his candidate says: "If you couldn't look after your child and you had to put them up for adoption would you honestly want your child to be adopted by a gay couple? "Would you seriously want that or a heterosexual family? Which would be more healthy for the child? "A caring loving home is a heterosexual or single family. I don't believe (a gay couple) is healthy ...

These are extracts from Lord Rennard's closing speech to the Liberal Youth Conference in Manchester yesterday. Lord Rennard worked for the party for 27 years, he was Director of Campaigns & Election 1989 - 2003 and Chief Executive 2003 - 2009 and he is now a Liberal Democrat peer speaking mostly on issues of political ...

My first visit since arriving in Zambia was to a UK-funded adolescent girls empowerment programme in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the capital, Lusaka. This programme is supporting more than 1,500 of the most vulnerable girls, providing safe spaces and mentoring to help build their confidence and life skills. The girls I met told me they were learning about their rights as women. One 16 year old girl said she now felt more confident to say no to unwanted approaches from boys. Another said the girls now understood that if a spouse or boyfriend attacked his partner, she had ...

Since the General Election, crime across England and Wales has fallen by 10%. It is now at its lowest level since the official crime survey began over thirty years ago. This is important news, and as Minister for Crime Prevention, it is my job to scrutinise these trends and to help them continue. But amidst this positive news we must not lose sight of those statistics and stories which show we have a long way still to go. Violence against women and girls is one of those areas. This Sunday marked the thirteenth United Nations International Day for the Elimination ...

16:45 Monday I am pleased to report that I have been advised by Hampshire Highways that Northern Avenue was re-opened at 15:15 this afternoon, in time for the evening rush hour. Although heavy rain is forecasted up to 18:00 hours this evening, as the entire system has been pumped clear of water, they are hopeful as they can be that the system will cope this evening and no further flooding will occur. Further work is planned, including a camera survey tomorrow evening. I have asked that any faults in the drain system are rectified as soon as possible.

The last episode of how Oganglesex's employees became more agile, reposted and slightly changed. FROM: Hilary Hannah, Human Resources Excellence Consultant TO: Kenneth Spotlessnob, Assistant Chief Executive and Director of Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision cc: Eustace Ojukwu, Human Resources Excellence Consultant Kenneth: I attach the full report on TESV's piloting of an aspirational head:seat ratio within OCC's Agile Working Strategy. The summary report is as follows (please let me know if you'd like to raise any points before it goes to Ed and Cllr Wayneflete). Transformational Excellence and Strategic Vision has achieved the aspirational target of 1 seat to ...

This morning's Western Mail contains another example of the failing culture of government by targets that has been a hallmark of both the Welsh Labour Government and that of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Westminster. They report that the Welsh Government has admitted that its four-year campaign to get more people walking and cycling is failing, despite help from high petrol prices and squeezed household budgets: New figures show that there has been little change in the proportion of people who walk and cycle to work, leaving the Welsh Government at risk of missing nearly all the targets it ...

Here's the latest TV mini-film from the Liberal Democrats, featuring Danny Alexander and the fairer tax campaign: You can find out more about the fairer tax campaign, and sign up to support it, at www.FairerTax.org. P.S. Remember, if you are running my campaign buttons, they will be automatically updated to include this new film.

In the Independent, Vince Cable complains that Africa sees little of the vast profits from its natural resources: Each year, international oil, gas, forestry and mining companies make large payments to the governments of resource-rich developing countries, though their citizens see very little of it. Charities have estimated that in Africa this income is six times greater than the aid the continent receives. Where does all this money go? Too much of it is siphoned away from those who need it most and lodged into foreign bank accounts and offshore tax havens. These vast sums of money that disappear into ...

So Nadine Dorries thinks that female MPs are jealous of her does she? I mean why stop there and why doesn't she just admit the truth that the whole human race are jealous and wish they led her life. You see the thing is we often rail against those who we are secretly jealous of. I mean who wouldn't want to be Ryan Clark or Christopher Maloney? We all wish that we were in TOWIE or Geordie Shore don't we? We would love our semi-fake lives planted all over the newspapers whilst people with brains laughed at us behind our ...

Cornwall councillors had a briefing this morning about the privatisation proposal (joint venture, shared services, outsourcing - call it what you will). As little as a month ago, we were told that there was no realistic alternative to the BT privatisation bid. Now there appear to be no fewer than thirteen different options on the table. Amazing what you can find when you look. I can't say what is the best option at this stage. We are waiting for the proper write up of all the different alternatives. What I can say is that each offers very different outcomes. There ...

Like most of the Lib Dem Blogging community I am listed on Lib Dem Blogs. However I probably only peruse it three or four times a week to see what other people are blogging about. I generally check out other Lib Dem Blogs via their RSS feeds on my Google Reader or if I see someone post a link on either Twitter or Facebook. The other thing I use is LibDig. If someone has put a blog on LibDig then I pretty much always read it and also pieces that are put on LibDig often show up in the Golden ...

On MailOnline Tory MP and ally of George Osborne, Nadhim Zawahi says that his house is worth £5 million and that he would like to pay more tax on it: Already, thanks to the closure of tax loopholes, the richest in this country will be paying a greater share of tax in every year of this Parliament than in any year of the last Labour Government. However, there's one area of our tax system that isn't adhering to that principle: council tax. The highest council tax band in England is Band H - which includes any property that in 1991 ...

According to the logic of former Solicitor General Sir Edward Garnier MP QC for the constituency of Harborough I shall call my car a bicycle but there is no need to change the law as a result. Under the logic as I own a bicycle I shall not be subject to road tax for my bicycle. My bicycle will still transport me from point A to B. As I now travel on my bicycle to work though I shall not be allowed to travel on the motorways, but I will have access to the excellent cycle path alongside the M5 ...

On the occasion of her first visit to Zambia and the UN Day for eliminating violence against women, Lynne Featherstone writes on Huffington Post: Physical and sexual abuse of women is a global scourge, that transcends borders. From the UK, where one in four women will be the victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime to Zambia, where 47% of women have suffered gender-based violence. Much has been done to improve the plight of women but, in Zambia as elsewhere, cultural norms are often still a barrier to change. As the UK government's ministerial champion for tackling violence against women ...

If you look south off the end of Southport Pier you will view the amazing stretch of shoreline that Jean Sprackland has written about in her book Strands I got an email this morning from a supporter of our Save the Libraries campaign attaching a news digest from the Bookseller I noticed that one of the articles was about the Portico Prize for non fiction.which Jean Sprackland has won.As the report says: Sprackland beat a non-fiction field comprising Simon Armitage, Henrietta Heald, Patricia and Robert Malcolmson, Keith Richardson, Alan Shelston, Chris Wadsworth, Bill Williams, Jeanette Winterson and Keith Wrightson. Jean ...

It's Monday, and so it's time for a new week of silly proposals from obscure Tory MPs. First there's Michael Fabricant batting his eyes enticingly at UKIP, and then there's this as well: (via) For individuals aged under 25 who have not yet paid National Insurance contributions for a certain period, perhaps five years, unemployment benefit should be in the form of a repayable loan. An unemployed teenager would still receive the same amount of cash as now, for example, but they would be expected to repay the value once in work. Like many proposals from the nuttier fringes of ...

We have relaunched the "House of Comments" podcast. Some of you may recall that for about a year from 2009 to 2010 myself and Stuart Sharpe used to host a regular(ish) podcast where we discussed politics and other issues that were being debated in the blogosphere with one, two or three blogger guests each week. Well it's back! With a slight change though. Stuart is no longer directly involved with the podcast having hung up his blogging boots some time ago. Instead I will be regularly joined by my new co-host and old friend Emma Burnell who blogs at Scarlet ...

When I worked for an MP as a caseworker, the main problems I dealt with were tax credits, benefits (where the Government departments concerned were never quick to admit their mistakes) and housing. Every week, we'd have several new cases of people not just wanting a better or bigger or in fact any house at all, but desperately needing it. Four children in a two bedroomed flat doesn't go. And don't get all sniffy about how people shouldn't have children if they can't afford them. What are poor people supposed to do? Forget the hope of family life?That's mean. Nick ...

As Stephen Tall has blogged: Here's a date for your diary... On 17th December, The Independent's Steve Richards will bring his Rock 'n Roll Politics to London for a Christmas special. Premiered at this year's Edinburgh Festival, where it earned rave reviews, here's how the show is billed: Award winning BBC broadcaster and columnist, Steve Richards, takes you behind the scenes of British Politics and the media, the characters, the absurdities, the tragedies. Laugh and cry as you are taken on a whirlwind tour from Harold Wilson and David Bowie in the 1970s to David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed ...

Wednesday, 21st November 2012 is, to use Mr Roosevelt's words, "a date that will live in infamy". Indeed, it was a day that finally brought the government to its knees. The coalition had well and truly been smashed to pieces. Well, that's what you'd believe if you were a member of the Socialist Workers' Party. What really happened? A student protest that was never aimed at achieving anything (and indeed it didn't). The protest of November 2010 aimed to lobby MPs in the run-up to the vote on raising tuition fees. For all the cost and effort put into organising ...

I am currently in Zambia, in my DFID role and as UK ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas. This coincides with the UN day for eliminating violence against women (yesterday.) Here is the text of my Huffington Post blog, written on Saturday. You can see the original here. ... Sunday 25 November is the UN day for eliminating violence against women, which I'm marking with my first ever visit to Zambia. Physical and sexual abuse of women is a global scourge, that transcends borders. From the UK, where one in four women will be the victim ...

You may have read in the local papers about some of the outcomes of Sefton's Full Council meeting last Thursday, which I attended. A lot of hot air was delivered by all 3 parties, but mainly by the leading Labour group. Two issues which took up most of the time were: the presentation of a petition to protect green belt land from development and a motion put forward by my colleague Tony Robertson to express delight at progress being made by Merseytravel to make much needed changes to their governance. If you would like further information on these 2 issues ...

This week on Question Time, we're in the ruins of Ancient Mu. The Regeneration of Doctor Who – Some interesting synchronicities between Doctor Who and the KLF. (This is because Bill Drummond is a Time Lord, of course) Argh, plot bunny: free to a good home – Explaining he secret history of Hollywood Rotherham, UKIP, And What We Don't Know – Tim Fenton sums up the issues around the Rotherham fostering case very well. Is there Bias on BBC Question Time? – A Very Public Sociologist looks at the political make up of the QT panels. It's slightly better on ...

This weekend, I went to Rewired State's Parliament hackday. I teamed up with amazing front end designer Max Bye and statistician par excellence John Sandall to create a data visualisation of Parliament's Demographics. Are the houses representative of the people in terms of gender diversity? Are the Labour Party younger than the Conservatives? Are the parties in the Lords particularly dissimilar? You can play with the hack at ParliamentDemographics.tk/ or watch a video demonstration. Each bubble represents a political partyThe size of the bubble represents how many members they haveThe Y-Axis (Vertical) represents the average age of MPs / LordsThe ...

During the 2010 general elections, I campaigned in Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP concentrated much of their electoral effort on the back of council seats they held there. Our policy of offering families, who have been here for years and want to pay taxes a route to citizenship (provided they want to work, speak English and want to commit to the UK in the long term) came under attack not just from the BNP, but Labour and Tories as well. It is, therefore, with some irony that I read last week that an effective amnesty for tens of thousands ...

The circuit at Interlagos never fails to disappoint. If you have a Formula One championship going down to the wire, what better place to end the season than in a place which seems, like Spa, to have its own micro-climate, where it can, and frequently does, tip it down at a moment' notice. Who can forget Kimi Raikonnen snatching the title from Lewis Hamilton in 2007 and then the next year Hamilton snatched it from Felipe Massa on the last corner.? In 2009, Brawn GP cemented their Constructors' Championship and the world title for Jenson Button after a bit of ...

Liberator's blog: Is UKIP racist? I'm not sure I agree with the distinction Simon makes between racist and xenophobic, nor am I sure that he is right with his baldly stated conclusion (UKIP supporters shouldn't have their foster children taken away in ANY circumstances? I think we need more informationon what the circumstances WERE myself) but his analysis of the appeal of UKIP is bang on the money. (tags: ) A Look at Beast Boxing Turbo, or, That Time A Developer Worried About Women Liking His Game And It All Turned Out Fine | The Mary Sue (tags: ) With ...

Lord Lieutenant presents Queen's Award to Chris Lay, MD of GigaSat At a presentation ceremony which took place on Friday 23 November, 2012, Hertfordshire's Lord Lieutenant, the Countess of Verulam awarded a Queen's Award for Enterprise to Giga Communications Limited (www.giga-group.co.uk) at their production facility and headquarters off the Icknield Way in Tring. The award was in the International Trade Category and recognised not only the high level of innovation and quality in the satellite antennae which they develop and produce, but their success in selling their products world-wide. The award was accepted on behalf of the company by the ...

To celebrate the past, present and future of Harris Academy, there will be a film preview and exhibition at the Central Library at 6pm on Friday 14th December, with thanks to the school, Pure Media UK and the Central Library. In what are exciting times for the future of Harris Academy, this will be a great event, and all are welcome to attend. You can see more about Pure Media UK below:

Right, so, errrr, um, days 2 and 3 might got consolidated into a single 2 mile run on the treadmill. Oops. It's in the right spirit, right? Day 4 was the Seattle Half Marathon! What an incredibly hard course that is: so many hills, so many hills! I think I paced it badly to boot: I had some lovely fast miles in there and a bit of a blowup in the second (hard, hilly) part of the race. I felt like my legs were moving as fast as they possibly could and was still barely running 11-minute miles. So, final ...

Liberal Youth have just had our annual Conference in Manchester. It's been a fun weekend full of laughter, debates, training, inspiration, bacon policies and procedural motions. Below the fold is a history of the Conference told entirely in tweets. But first... Saturday Thanks to @liberalyouth for inviting me to open the conference in Manchester this ...

Here is a pair of gloves I finished a few weeks ago: The pattern is Proposition, by Julie Brown, and the yarn is Chroma by Knitpicks. They are most definitely the gayest thing I have ever had on my needles, which is saying something. Were I to knit them again – and I already have two people waiting for them, so if you want them get in line – I would probably not use that yarn, because the wool/nylon blend irritates my sensitive skin. But the pattern itself was a joy to knit. (Click the picture for a larger closeup) ...